Costa has unveiled its festive food and drink menu for 2023, and it’s absolutely packed full of indulgent goodies to get you properly get you in the Christmas spirit.
The popular coffee shop chain is known and loved for its limited-edition seasonal menus each year, and now, with the countdown to the big day officially on, Costa has given fans what they’ve been waiting for as it’s unveiled its festive food and drink offering for 2023 – with a whole host of brand-new treats, as well as some returning fan favourites on the lineup.
This year, the star of the show this year has to be the Sticky Toffee Latte, which is inspired by the nation’s favourite pudding and turns it into a winter-warming drink.
Also available as an iced version, the Sticky Toffee Latte features a yummy sticky toffee-flavoured sauce, topped with Light Whip, drizzled with even more sauce, and finished with a sprinkling of bronze shimmery angel-like dusting.
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Costa has unveiled its Christmas food and drink menu for 2023 / Credit: Costa
Also new to the festive drinks offering this year is the Roasted Hazel Latte and Roasted Hazel Hot Chocolate, which are both made with flavourful roasted hazelnut syrup, topped with Light Whip, and completed with a beautiful bronzed shimmer and mini gold stars.
Other festive drinks on the menu this year include the comebacks of the much-loved Black Forest Hot Chocolate, and the Gingerbread & Cream Latte, which are both Costa classics at this point, and are set to be on the menu a little earlier than the rest to usher in the seasonal spirit.
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The Terry’s Chocolate Orange Hot Chocolate is also making a return by popular demand.
The coffee shop chain is known and loved for its limited-edition seasonal menus each year / Credit: Costa
If you fancy tucking into a hearty festive feast to go along with your limited-edition drinks, then this year’s new food range includes the Pigs and Blankets Toastie, which features succulent pork sausage and maple cured bacon, with caramelised onion chutney, all in tempting garlic, onion and sage crumbed cheese-topped bread, and the Honey Roast Ham and Wensleydale Ciabatta with British Honey roast ham and Wensleydale cheese, mature Cheddar and honey, and béchamel sauce, all packed into a cranberry ciabatta.
For a quick snack lunch, there’s also Melton Mowbray Pork Pies, and a new festive-themed Sausage Roll – which has seasoned pork sausage meat, pulled pork, and divine Bramley apples in an all-butter puff pastry, topped with a wonderful festive pastry star.
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And then, back for another year is the Brie Bacon and Cranberry Panini, the Brie and Cranberry Toastie, the Turkey and Trimmings Toastie, and the Turkey Feast Sandwich.
For the plant-based and vegan customers, there’s a new Vegan Turkey and Trimmings Toastie made up of vegan turkey with stuffing, yummy cranberry sauce, vegan mayonnaise, vegan gravy, all in toasted white bread.
There’s sticky toffee pudding lattes, pigs in blankets toasties, and loads of returning festive favourites / Credit: Costa
For those with a sweet tooth, there’s some new indulgent cakes and biscuits too, including the Belgian Chocolate Ganache Cake, the Sticky Toffee Loaf Cake, the Christmas Cake Slice – which is suitable for vegans – and to finish off, the Polar Bear Gingerbread Biscuit and Christmas Tree Shortcake Biscuit.
Of course, there’s a bunch of returning treats too, such as the Terry’s Chocolate Orange Muffin, and the Gingerbread Muffin, to accompany your drinks, as well as the White Chocolate Trillionaire’s Slice, and the Crispy Festive Wreath.
On top of that, both the All Butter Mince Pie, and the Gluten-Free Vegan Mince Tarts, are back for another year too.
The 2023 Christmas menu will be available at all Costa branches and Costa self-serve machines nationwide, and will begin its roll-out from Thursday 2 November.
Featured Image – Costa
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Johnny Marr teases his work on upcoming Gorillaz album
Danny Jones
Legendary Manchester musician Johnny Marr has revealed he features on the new Gorillaz album, adding even more interest in the highly anticipated release.
The Mountain is the ninth studio LP from the musical collective led by Damon Albarn, which is set to drop in early 2026, more than three years on from their last album, Cracker Island.
Although the virtual band made up of several real-life creatives (though the ex-Blur frontman and artist, Jamie Hewlett, technically remain the only two consistent core members) hasn’t been away for too long, each new project brings a wave of excitement.
With that in mind, we have no shame in admitting we have even more interest in Gorillaz’s latest album now that we know Johnny Marr is attached to it.
I’m pleased to share that I appear on four tracks on the upcoming Gorillaz album The Mountain. It’s a privilege to be a part of this record along with so many great artists. #Gorillaz#JohnnyMarrpic.twitter.com/KXVZxgyGg9
In the new rundown of tunes already posted earlier this month, the former Smiths songwriter and lead guitarist features on four different songs on the new record. You can see it in full down below:
Gorrilaz – The Mountain tracklist
1. The Mountain (feat. Dennis Hopper, Ajay Prasanna, Anoushka Shankar, Amaan Ali Bangash and Ayaan Ali Bangash) 2. The Moon Cave (feat. Asha Puthli, Bobby Womack, Dave Jolicoeur, Jalen Ngonda and Black Thought) 3. The Happy Dictator (feat. Sparks) 4. The Hardest Thing (feat. Tony Allen) 5. Orange County (feat. Bizarrap, Kara Jackson and Anoushka Shankar) 6. The God of Lying (feat. IDLES) 7. The Empty Dream Machine (feat. Black Thought, Johnny Marr and Anoushka Shankar) 8. The Manifesto (feat. Trueno and Proof) 9. The Plastic Guru (feat. Johnny Marr and Anoushka Shankar) 10. Delirium (feat. Mark E. Smith) 11. Damascus (feat. Omar Souleyman and Yasiin Bey) 12. The Shadowy Light (feat. Asha Bhosle, Gruff Rhys, Ajay Prasanna, Amaan Ali Bangash, and Ayaan Ali Bangash) 13. Casablanca (feat. Paul Simonon and Johnny Marr) 14. The Sweet Prince (feat. Ajay Prasanna, Johnny Marr and Anoushka Shankar) 15. The Sad God (feat. Black Thought, Ajay Prasanna and Anoushka Shankar)
As you can see, the 61-year-old appears for the first time on song seven, ‘The Empty Dream Machine’, as well as ‘The Plastic Guru’, ‘Casablanca’, and the penultimate track on the album, ‘The Sweet Prince’.
It’ll be interesting to see how he fits into the captivating soundscape already teased by the group, with Gorillaz having now shared ‘The Happy Dictator’ featuring art pop duo Sparks.
A strong and politically loaded start.
Marr – who only released his fourth batch of solo material, Fever Dream Pts 1-4, back in 2022 – has continued to craft and produce with countless other artists over the past few decades, sharing the studio with fellow icons such as Noel Gallagher, Billy Bragg, Talking Heads and many more.
He even helped create the score for The Amazing Spider-Man 2 soundtrack with legendary composer Hans Zimmer.
That being said, we can only hope to hear some of his famous guitar tones sprinkled throughout this album, though it’s still unclear as to exactly how much input he had on The Mountain overall.
What we do know about the album is that it’s the first to be released via Albarn’s new record label KONG; it’s 15 tracks, and was largely made following extended recording sessions across India, with the likes of Ajay Prasanna, Omar Souleyman and Anoushka Shankar, joining IDLES, Jalen Ngonda and other collabs.
Perhaps most excitingly, the announcement of ‘Gorillaz no.9’ came alongside a series of tour dates, including one right here in Manchester. We can’t wait to see 2D, Murdoc Niccals, Russel Hobbs and Noodle ‘live’ in 0161.
Featured Images — Raph_PH (via Flickr/KONG (press shot)
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FIFA confirm new changes to international breaks – and many fans are divided
Danny Jones
Global sporting body FIFA have announced new changes to the annual football calendar and the ever-divisive international breaks, specifically.
It’s fair to say that not everyone is in agreement over the update to what many fans and even players already find a frustrating format.
Put simply, FIFA have revealed that they will be merging the traditional September and October breaks into one extended period of international football from 2026 onwards.
Once again, although the decision has been met with plenty of support, it has also faced just as much, if not potentially even more, resistance.
That's well better. Always thought instead of having 3 short international breaks in autumn we'd be better off having one long one
As detailed by multiple outlets following full confirmation on Monday, 13 September, footy fans are now looking at a combined 16 days of watching national teams in World Cup qualifiers and other fixtures.
While other clubs further down the footballing pyramid will still be able to watch their team, supporters of Premier League sides and several other divisions will see domestic action cease for roughly three weeks when taking into account rest days between international and club fixtures
Besides incorporating more teams into this year’s World Cup (now a 48-team affair) and the still relatively recent advent of the Nations League – which UEFA introduced in the hopes of creating more interest in the much-maligned international breaks – this is one of the biggest changes in some time.
At present, there are typically four breaks: September, October, November and March/April – not including major tournaments themselves.
One criticism of this format has been the stop-start consequence it has on club football, and indeed, struggling to create any real momentum and/or excitement, as well as the impact on form it sometimes has on players both away on national team duty and when they get back to their clubs.
I suppose it’s better than having two different breaks in Sept and the October, and the stop start nature of the club season.
Another big concern these breaks have always been met with is the added risk of fatigue and injury.
Despite being athletes who regularly train to remain at the peak of their physical fitness, the increasingly congested fixture calendar – particularly for those playing in England, with multiple cup competitions, the prospect of European football AND no break over Christmas – continues to push bodies to the limit.
Once again, these new changes to international breaks won’t come into effect until next year, but there are plenty of pros and cons that professionals and supporters alike will continue to debate until the new schedule is implemented.
Emily Sergeant -
27th October 2023 
